El Paso library named after award-winning local son

El Paso library named after award-winning local son

GritoBlast! — The El Paso City Council voted unanimously in favor of renaming an El Paso library in honor of acclaimed Arte Público author and Ysleta native, Sergio Troncoso. On July 29, the Ysleta Branch Library changed names to the Sergio Troncoso Library. It was built in 1996.

Representative Eddie Holguin of District 6 suggested the name change during his last council meeting. “I decided to propose the name change because Troncoso has advocated for literature, so that children can see that other El Pasoans of the Valley have done great things and they can be inspired to believe they can be successful too,” Holguin said.

The son of immigrants from Juárez, Mexico, Troncoso grew up in an adobe house built by his parents.

“I am very honored, I love Ysleta and I will always be from Ysleta, from El Paso. I was a chubby boy who liked to read, things haven’t changed much but I am still passionate and I still advocate for literature,” Troncoso said.

Sergio Troncoso is the author of The Nature of Truth (Arte Público Press, 2014), From This Wicked Patch of Dust (University of Arizona Press, 2011), Crossing Borders: Personal Essays (Arte Público Press, 2011), and The Last Tortilla and Other Stories (University of Arizona Press, 1999), which won the Premio Aztlán and the Southwest Book Award. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and two graduate degrees, in international relations and philosophy, from Yale University. He lives and works in New York City.